Intelligent video, data streaming and access to distributed resources in a wireless network

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a method of operating a network which comprises a plurality of stations each able to transmit and receive data so that the network can transmit data directly, or indirectly via one or more intermediate stations, between a requesting station and potential resource providing stations. The method comprises monitoring, at each station, the activity and/or resources of other stations on the network to establish the availability of resources at the other stations, and transmitting, from a requesting station requiring a specified resource, resource request probe signals identifying the specified resource. The resource may be data, connectivity, memory/storage, or another resource. At each station receiving the resource request probe signals, the availability of the specified resource or a portion thereof is determined, and hence whether said station is a potential resource providing station. If such a potential resource providing station has the specified resource or a portion thereof, response data is transmitted directly, or indirectly via one or more intermediate stations, to the requesting station indicating the availability of the specified resource or portion thereof to the requesting station. The requesting station is then given access to the specified resource or portion thereof from at least one resource providing station selected from one or more potential resource providing stations. The invention extends to a network for implementing the method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method of operating a network tocooperatively identify and access resources distributed amongst neighborstations in connectivity with one another, in order to enable readilyavailable resources on the network to be efficiently directed to usersrequiring access to the resources.

For the purposes of this specification, such a network will be referredto as an Opportunity Driven Multiple Access (ODMA) network of thegeneral kind described in International patent applications nos. WO96/19887 and WO 98/56140.

It is an object of the invention to provide a mechanism in which userstations on a network may source relevant information, and benefit fromany underutilized resources available, from the other stations on thenetwork by virtue of the distributed nature of the network topology. Themechanism provided exploits the inherent neighbor gathering techniquesthat are utilized in the ODMA network communication processes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided a method of operating anetwork comprising a plurality of stations each able to transmit andreceive data so that the network can transmit data directly, orindirectly via one or more intermediate stations, between a requestingstation and potential resource providing stations, the methodcomprising:

-   -   monitoring, at each station, the activity and/or resources of        other stations on the network to establish the availability of        resources at the other stations;    -   transmitting, from a requesting station requiring a specified        resource, resource request probe signals identifying the        specified resource;    -   determining, at each station receiving the resource request        probe signals, the availability at said station of the specified        resource or a portion thereof and hence whether said station is        a potential resource providing station;    -   transmitting, from a potential resource providing station having        the specified resource or a portion thereof, response data        directly, or indirectly via one or more intermediate stations,        to the requesting station indicating the availability of the        specified resource or portion thereof to the requesting station;        and    -   receiving, at the requesting station, access to the specified        resource or portion thereof from at least one resource providing        station selected from one or more potential resource providing        stations.

The specified resource may be, for example, one or more of data,connectivity within the network or to an external network or device,memory/storage, data processing capability, display capability, and datarelating to the maintenance of information on the location of stations,the history of resource requests and fulfillment of such requests, andthe availability of resources.

In the case of data, the data can be one or more of video, audio, text,image or other data.

Stations in the network may receive the resource request probe signalsdirectly from the requesting station, or indirectly via one or moreintermediate stations.

In the latter case, each station receiving the resource request probesignals indirectly may monitor the number of transmission hops viaintermediate stations between the requesting station and itself andresponds only to probe signals received via fewer than a predeterminednumber of intermediate stations or transmission hops, or if thecumulative cost of transmission to the requesting station is less than apredetermined value.

Preferably, where the resource request probe signals and response dataare transmitted via one or more intermediate stations, each transmissionis made opportunistically based on one or more criteria.

For example, the stations of the network may monitor the cumulativepower required to reach another station, thereby defining a costgradient to the other stations, with stations using the cost gradient inthe selection criteria used to determine an optimal route through thenetwork between a resource providing station and a requesting station.

The criteria may include the cost of each hop between stations, or thecumulative cost of message transmission between stations havingconnectivity with one another, directly or via intermediate stations.

The specified resource may be obtained from one or more resourceproviding stations, which resource providing stations are selectedaccording to one or more criteria, including the extent of the specifiedresource available at the resource providing station, the dataprocessing capacity of the resource providing station, the data storagecapacity of the resource providing station, the distance or number ofhops via intermediate stations between the resource providing stationand the requesting station, the quality of communication betweenimmediate stations and/or the cumulative connectivity cost between theresource providing station and the requesting station, availability ofpower at the resource providing station and/or intermediate stations,the existence of other demands on the resource providing station, andthe amount of time available within which the specified resource can besupplied timeously to the requesting station.

The choice of resource providing station may be made opportunisticallyat the moment of distribution of the specified resource.

A plurality of stations may cooperate actively in making the specifiedresource available to the requesting station.

The specified resource or portion thereof may be transferred between oneor more resource providing stations and one or more intermediatestations, with the intermediate stations taking over the role of theinitial resource providing stations, as the requesting station movesrelative to the other stations, for example.

The source or intermediate stations may predict the route of arequesting station that is moving and steer the specified resource tofurther intermediate stations expected to be located opportunely to makethe resource available to the requesting station. Typically, this willoccur where multiple sources of the specified resource are utilizedand/or buffered for piecemeal distribution to the source station.

The specified resource may be actively distributed from one or moreresource providing stations to further stations capable of acting asintermediate or resource providing stations, to provide redundancy inthe event of a loss or reduced quality of connectivity between stations,or a loss or reduction of quality of resources or functionality atstations, or other events likely to limit availability of the specifiedresource to the requesting station.

Where several requesting stations request substantially the same datafrom one or more potential source stations at substantially the sametime, a source station may transmit the data to one or more of therequesting stations, together with an additional request that thisrequesting station forward the data to other requesting stations (ratherthan the original source station transmitting the data to each of therequesting stations itself). This is especially relevant where otherrequesting stations have good connectivity with the initial requestingstation, thereby enabling the other requesting stations to source datafrom stations that are substantially in the same locale.

Stations in the network may advertise their availability as potentialresource providing stations to other stations in the network, andtransmit probe signals to other stations including data indicating thenature and extent of the resources available.

Stations receiving such probe signals from potential resource providingstations may determine the desirability of the advertised resourcesbased on the probe signals and data received therefrom, and request partor all of the resource available.

Profile and location information may be maintained at neighbor stationsindicating potential interest in at least a portion of the resourcesbeing advertised to potential requesting stations.

Stations in the network may monitor network transmissions forirregularities indicating undesirable activity, and transmit notice ofsuch activity to other stations and/or to a central authority.

The method may include transmitting a plurality of different data blocksto a plurality of stations from a resource providing station, the datablocks together comprising a complete data set, and a requesting stationrequiring the complete data set obtaining the data blocks from one ormore resource providing stations.

The requesting station may initially select a resource providing stationable to supply a relatively poor quality resource, and subsequentlyselects one or more alternative resource providing stations able tocontinue supplying the resource at a higher quality level.

The method may include maintaining a record of resources requestedand/or accessed at a central server, requesting stations being able toaccess the record to obtain initial information about the availabilityand/or location of such resources.

Stations in the network may monitor transmissions of other stations todetect transmissions requiring a decryption key or having predeterminedcontent, a station detecting such a transmission declining to transmitsaid transmission onward or notifying a central authority if it fails tomeet one or more predetermined criteria.

In one embodiment, at least one station in the network has a monitoringor surveillance function, said at least one station generating, inresponse to an alarm condition, a request to other stations toprioritize the capture, transmission and/or storage of data relating toan event associated with the alarm condition.

The other stations may respond to the request by storing data relatingto the alarm condition, including data captured before and/or after theoccurrence of the alarm condition.

Further according to the invention there is provided a communicationnetwork comprising a plurality of stations each able to transmit andreceive data so that the network can transmit data directly, orindirectly via one or more intermediate stations, between a requestingstation and potential resource providing stations, each station beingarranged to:

-   -   monitor the activity of other stations on the network to        establish the availability of intermediate stations for onward        transmission of data between the requesting station and the        potential resource providing stations;    -   transmit, when acting as a requesting station requiring a        specified resource, resource request probe signals identifying        the specified resource;    -   determine, when acting as a station receiving the resource        request probe signals, the availability at said station of the        specified resource or a portion thereof and hence whether said        station is a potential resource providing station;    -   transmit, when determined to be a potential resource providing        station having the specified resource or a portion thereof,        response data directly, or indirectly via one or more        intermediate stations, to the requesting station indicating the        availability of the specified resource or portion thereof to the        requesting station; and    -   receive, when acting as the requesting station, access to the        specified resource or portion thereof from at least one resource        providing station selected from one or more potential resource        providing stations.

Embodiments of the invention are described in detail in the followingpassages of the specification, which refer to the accompanying drawings.The drawings, however, are merely illustrative of how the inventionmight be put into effect, so that the specific form and arrangement ofthe features shown is not to be understood as limiting on the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a simplified connectivity diagram illustrating the mannerin which data sub-components may be sourced from the network;

FIGS. 2( a) to (c) show connectivity diagrams similar to that of FIG. 1,in a geographic context; and

FIGS. 3( a) to (d) show simplified geographic representations of thepotential for access to distributed resources available to users of thenetwork of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to the use of an Opportunity DrivenMultiple Access (ODMA) network, of the general kind described in WO96/19887 and WO 98/56140, to transfer resources from resource providingstations to resource requesting stations.

It will be appreciated that in such a network environment, usersconnected to the network will, between them, likely retain aconsiderable quantity of aggregate knowledge and data on each of theirnetwork stations. In addition, these stations will likely have certainresources available that might exceed their own particular needs at anygiven time.

The ODMA-over-wireless methodology is used in a communication networkwhich has a number of wireless stations which are able to transmit datato and receive data from one another. The methodology comprises defininga first probing channel for the transmission of first, broadcast probesignals to other stations. Other stations which receive the first probesignals (also referred to as “slow probes”) from a probing stationindicate to the probing station their availability as destination orintermediate stations. A neighbor table comprising details of, andconnectivity data relating to, these other available stations ismaintained at each of the stations.

In an ODMA network utilizing a wireless medium, when there are a numberof stations in close proximity they will end up probing at higher datarates and lower transmit powers. Listening stations will occasionallyrespond to stations that are probing at the lower data rates, or that donot have enough neighbors, to help any lonely (distant) stations (alsoreferred to as “lonely neighbors”) that cannot use the higher data ratesor do not have sufficient neighbors. Stations will only use the lowerdata rates when they are lonely and cannot find sufficient neighbors atthe higher data rates and at maximum power.

ODMA networks utilise two kinds of probing processes, “slow probing” and“fast probing”. The slow probing process is used by each network stationto gather neighbors, while the fast probing process is used to constructgradients between originating and destination stations.

Each station will transmit slow “neighbour gathering” probe signals atregular intervals (determined by a Slow Probe Timer) trying to findother stations. Stations indicate in their slow probes that they areable to detect other stations probing and in that way stations will varytheir probe power until a certain predetermined number of stationsindicate they are able to detect the probes. If a station never acquiresthe required number of neighbors it will remain at the lowest data rateand maximum transmit power.

Each station will randomly vary the Slow Probe Timer slightly betweenslow probe signal transmissions to avoid collision with other stations.Should any station start receiving another station's transmission, itwill reload the Slow Probe Timer with a new interval.

In a wireless network of mobile stations the stations are constantlymoving, and as such the number of neighbors will constantly be changing.If the number of neighbors exceeds the required number, a station willstart to increase its data rate on the probing channel. It will continueto increase its data rate until it no longer exceeds the required numberof neighbors. If it reaches the maximum data rate it will start to dropits slow probe transmit power by small increments until it eitherreaches the minimum transmit power, or no longer exceeds the requirednumber of neighbors.

When a station replies to another station's slow probe on a ProbingChannel it will limit the length of its data packet to the Slow ProbeTimer interval. This is to avoid other stations probing over its reply.If the station that is replying has more data to send than will fit in asmall packet it will indicate in the header of the packet that the otherstation must move to a specific Data Channel.

There can be a number of Data Channels defined for each Probing Channel.The station that is requesting the change will randomly select one ofthe available Data Channels. When the other station receives the requestit will immediately change to that Data Channel, where the two stationswill continue to communicate until neither of them have any data tosend, or if the maximum time for remaining on the Data Channel expires(set by a Data Timer). Alternative data transport protocols could alsobe used.

When a station changes to the Data Channel it loads the Data Timer. Itwill remain on the Data Channel for as long as the Data Timer willallow. When the Data Timer expires the stations will revert back to theProbing Channel and start probing again.

The slow probing process consists of three basic functions:

-   -   1. Neighbor collection    -   2. Power learning    -   3. Ramping of neighbors

The process of neighbor collection consists of a station probing atincreased levels of power until neighboring stations indicate in theirown probes that they are detecting the probes of the first station. Thepower of the probe is increased until a predetermined number ofneighbors indicate that they are detecting the probes.

All probing stations increase and decrease their probe power until allstations have collected a predetermined number of neighbors. Thisprocess consists of increasing and decreasing the power level of probesand indicating in probes which other stations' probes are heard. In thisway all stations can learn what power level they require to reachvarious neighbors.

Each time a station probes it indicates its transmit power and noisefloor and which stations it has as neighbors. Every time a station hearsanother station probe it calculates from the probe the path loss andpower required to reach the station from the path loss and the noisefloor of that station. The path loss to the neighbor and the powerrequired to reach the neighbor are stored in the neighbor table kept ateach station. If a neighbor is no longer heard then the path loss andpower level required to reach the station are increased or “ramped” inthe table until a certain level is reached at which point the neighboris removed from the neighbor table.

If a station has a message (or other data) to transmit to a station thatis not one of its neighbors, for example, a distant station across thenetwork, it begins to transmit fast probe signals (or gradient gatheringprobe signals) to develop information on how to reach that station. Theinformation is called a gradient and is an indication of the cumulativecost to reach a destination station. When a station starts to fast probeit indicates that it is looking for a destination and neighbors hearingthe fast probe will themselves fast probe until the destination stationhears the fast probes of its neighbors. The gradient is then builtthrough adding cumulative cost until the gradient reaches the source,and the source can commence to send messages to neighbors using theinformation developed in the gradients to destination, which in turn cansend them to their neighbors until the destination is reached.

Each station keeps a record of the (cumulative cost) gradients to eachdestination of each of its neighbors, and its own gradient to thedestination. In standard ODMA communications, each station only passesmessages to stations with a lower cumulative cost to destination. Astation can pass a message to any of its neighbors with a lower gradientto destination. Neighbor gathering via slow probing and gradientgeneration via fast probing allow a station to develop a number ofchoices of stations with lower cost to any destination that can sendmessages to such destinations. The neighbors are maintained all the timevia slow probing and gradients are only developed on a needs basis whenmessages/data needs to be sent to stations that are not neighbors.

Each wireless station uses the slow probing process to identify andobtain information from the station's neighbors. A station is considereda “neighbor” in this sense if it has been heard to transmit a neighborgathering probe message, and details of the neighboring stationsidentified will be maintained in each station's neighbor table.

If an identified neighbor has itself transmitted a neighbor gatheringprobe message that is received by a particular station, and the probecontains information of the particular station's own identifier, thenthe neighbor is flagged as a “detecting neighbor” in the neighbor table.Typically each station will adapt its neighbor gathering techniques(generally by increasing data transmission rates and by powering downthe strength of the probe signals sent out) to maintain approximately 10detecting neighbors. Of these, a predetermined number of the neighborswith the lowest path loss are flagged as “close neighbors” (for example,five stations). The information obtained from close neighbors may betreated differently or preferentially and the techniques used totransmit the information may also be adapted depending on the neighbors.

If a station is unable to acquire the minimum number of close neighborswhen it is transmitting on full probe power, it is referred to as a“lonely neighbor”. Other stations that have acquired the required numberof close neighbors that can detect the lonely neighbor transmissionswill let the lonely neighbor know that they are detected, and mayprovide additional information to the lonely neighbor.

When not probing or sending other messages, each station is listeningfor the probes of the other stations. When heard, the receiving stationcan use the transmit power information provided in the probe toestablish the path loss to the station. As each station is constantlyidentifying the close neighbors with the lowest path loss, theseneighbors are likely to be either in direct line of sight, or have thebest signal with least interference. Even stations merely able to listenwill be in relatively good connectivity with a probing station in afully operational network with many stations, as stations sending probeswill likely have powered down their transmission levels in order tominimize their number of neighbors. In other words, neighbors aretypically chosen for the quality of connectivity. Lonely neighbors arethe exception, but will be recognized by the stations (hearing theirfull power transmissions and determining that they have less than therequired number of collected neighbors) and assisted.

The ODMA methodology, particularly with regard to the use of neighbortables and gradient tables, is described in detail in WO 2005/062528entitled Probing Method for a Multi-Station Network,

In an ODMA network, the ongoing accumulation of information relating tothe needs and connectivity resources of neighbors is central to theefficient operation of the network. It should also be evident, that thegreater the number of stations participating on the network, the greaterwill be the information and resources available. For example, anoriginating station might typically maintain neighbor tables and gatherconnectivity information in respect of 10 neighbors. If each of theseneighbors in turn has similar information on 10 neighbors, thentheoretically (ignoring the fact that there may be overlaps in neighborsgathered) the originating station may have access to the resources of100 stations. Ten of the stations will be one communication “hop” away,while the remainder of the stations will be no more than two hops away.Consequently, at least in theory, 10 billion user stations would beavailable within 10 hops, if there were sufficient stations on thenetwork.

It should be evident that the aggregate information and resourcesreadily possessed by the network stations is considerable. Theinformation held by any one station may or may not be complete for aparticular purpose, but it is highly probable that most, if not all, ofthe information will adequately fulfill the requisition needs of otherusers through access to these aggregated pieces from multiple stations.The consequence of this, for present purposes, is that the need for useraccess to centralized databases is considerably mitigated, as in thevast majority of situations the information will be accessible from thedistributed information already available through the other stations onthe network itself.

However, in order to provide access to this data and these resourceopportunities, it is necessary to provide a mechanism that will enablethe required information to be identified and transmitted to therequesting station. In an ODMA network this is considerably lesscomplicated than may initially have been envisaged when contemplatingpotential solutions for the mechanism, due to the ongoing neighborgathering processes inherently utilized in the system.

In order to illustrate the invention, a video streaming embodiment ofthe invention is first described at a conceptual level. For example, arequesting station may wish to obtain video data in the form oftelevision programs, films or movies, or as news clips anddocumentaries, and the like. Rather than directly accessing a centrallocation (which would be the on-line equivalent of visiting a videorental shop), the user station can enquire from its neighbors whetherthey already have specified video content or whether they are aware(from their maintained records) of any of their neighbors that have thecontent (akin to asking next door neighbors whether they have visitedthe video store and rented the desired movie).

These neighbors may already have some or all of the relevantinformation, or have information regarding availability of the requesteddata. If the neighbor stations are not in a position to assistimmediately, they can then enquire from their own neighbors, which inturn can enquire from their neighbors as necessary. Ultimately thepotential availability of the required data will be reported back to therequesting station. The initial request made could have been broadlydefined (for example, general news, or movies in a particular genre) orspecifically stated in respect of all or a part of a particular programor movie. In this manner it is possible collectively to determine whatis available. Stations in the network could maintain a directory ofavailable information and resources in their neighbor tables that can beaccessed by and/or provided to requesting or enquiring stations; or,alternatively, desktop search engines could be utilized at each stationwhen required.

Users could define a user specific profile relating to the nature of thedata the user is interested in or may be interested in. This profilecould be shared and recorded with neighbors so that these neighborscould look out for certain data and alert the user to the availabilityof potentially interesting and useful items. For example, the profilecould specify that the user wants access to information relating to allmovies made by a certain director, and that the user has a generalinterest in old black and white musicals. Furthermore, the profile mightspecify the number of hops from the profiled station, or define otherappropriate criteria, that neighboring stations will use to determinetheir investigations. It will be seen that this principle will alsoapply to potentially useful available resources as well.

By way of further illustration, if a news item is requested, eachstation will look around amongst the neighbors for parts of the newsitem and, in particular, for the initial part of the item. Stations thathave already obtained access to the item will potentially have some orall of this data readily available in their temporary memory caches, orthis information may have even been deliberately stored for somepurpose. This data could then indeed be distributed to other stations onthe network having larger memory buffers or on other data storage thatmay be available (either temporarily, or provided for this specificpurpose).

As the station's neighbors would be aware (from information derived andshared through the probe signals being transmitted between the stations)that a station is attempting to make information available to therequesting station, and as they additionally would know the resourcelimitations of the unit being accessed and of the other stationsassisting the unit, the neighbors could suggest additional neighborsthat could assist; that may have larger memory buffers or dataprocessing capabilities available, for example. The neighbors can thenassist the requesting station by seeking the subsequent portions of therequested item and investigating the use of other possible resourcesthat may be available—and if necessary any of these assisting stationscan either hold the data, if the requesting station does not havesufficient memory, or can redistribute the data to units with morecapacity. In this manner, stations can forward the information (usingODMA routing techniques) on to the requesting station when it isrequired, thereby gradually “spoon-feeding” information as needed in apiecemeal fashion.

In the event that several requesting stations request substantially thesame data from one or more potential source stations at substantiallythe same time, a source station need not send the data to each and everyrequesting station itself. Instead, it may transmit the data or aportion thereof to one or more of the requesting stations; together witha request that the data be forwarded to other requesting stations. Thisis especially relevant where other requesting stations are in goodconnectivity with the initial (successful) requesting station thatreceived the data. In this manner, subsequent requests for data will beanswered by stations with the data that are substantially in the samelocale as the requesting station(s), or which are in conditions ofparticularly good connectivity. The same principle applies to requestsfor other from other resources as is described below.

Again, as each station retains information regarding its neighbors andtheir neighbors (and possibly beyond), the task of spoon-feeding can bepassed along to another station(s) that may be better suited to thetask. This may arise by virtue of the connectivity between stations, ordue to the resources used by any station, or alternatively therequesting station may have moved relative to the other stations, or therequired data and/or resource needs may have changed as a result of theinformation required or offered. In this manner, the neighboringstations are essentially advertising their potential data throughput andother capabilities, and the stations best placed to perform thespoon-feeding can pass the task on to other well placed stations thatbecome better equipped to undertake the task. This is especiallyrelevant where data is banked up from multiple sources or multipleresources are utilized. This concept will be illustrated in more detailbelow.

Additionally, the neighbors could perform certain functions on behalf ofother stations. For example, a station could access and download highlycompressed data and a receiving station or other stations could thendecompress this data on behalf of other stations prior to distribution.Indeed, a station might redistribute certain functions to neighbors withgreater resources to carry out the function, such as the decompressionreferred to above. It should be appreciated that no single neighbor needundertake any of these steps alone, but may only be required to takeaction in respect of certain of the packets of information that togethercomprise the aggregated whole. In this manner, the available resourcesof the network are optimized, with the best placed stations undertakingthe tasks, and consequently the network is operated as efficiently aspossible.

This process is illustrated in the simplified connectivity diagram ofFIG. 1, in which a requesting station comprising a personal digitalassistant device (PDA1) seeks data from the network. (Note that thetypical multi-hop opportunistic paths of connectivity between neighborstations are not illustrated in the drawing). Through the network ofneighbors, pieces of the required data are located. A laptop computer(L1) is identified as holding the first pieces of the data required (a),and this is transmitted to the requesting station PDA1.

It should be appreciated that the initial pieces may deliberately be ofa lower quality, in order to utilize fewer resources (in terms ofmemory, processing power and transmission throughput requirements, etc)than the maximum quality available. This would enable more copies of theinitial piece of the data to be stored in more places, thereby makingthe data easy to locate and readily available. This is similar to theconcept of providing thumbnail pictures, or lower resolution pictures,or sound bites or movie preview clips, on a website, and providing thefacility to download an improved version if required. If appropriate,the improved version could potentially be provided at a higher cost tothe user, as the resources utilized by the network are more extensiveand the data may have to be located from a less accessible source. Thislimits network overhead as subsequent materials may not even be requiredif the user does not wish to proceed.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, the user of the requesting stationPDA1 user chooses to obtain the continued data streaming at a higherquality, perhaps having watched the preview of a movie. Suitablesubsequent portions (but not all the portions) of the higher qualitydata (B) are located at a neighbor station comprising a desktop computer(D1). However, due to the higher quality and consequent increased amountof data, the data is compressed (and may possibly be encrypted).Consequently, although a second neighbor station comprising a PDA unit(PDA2) is well equipped to transmit the throughput required of thecompressed data stream, it has relatively weak processing power.Therefore, the compressed data is routed to a neighbor stationcomprising a laptop computer (L2) known amongst the neighbors to havegreater (and available) processing power to handle this task. (In anyevent, had the station PDA1 possessed substantial processing power, itwould possibly not have the software functionality to undertake thedecompression itself). As the quantity of data increases substantiallyafter decompression, the station PDA2 is less able to transmit all thedata, so some of the data (a potion B1) is routed to the station PDA2and some (B2) to a smart phone station (SP1) for onward transmission tothe requesting station PDA1.

The final portion of the data (C) is not readily accessible amongst theneighbors (for example, perhaps station PDA1 requested a less frequentlychosen director's cut of a film). Using the methodologies employed inInternational patent application no. PCT/IB2006/001274 entitledMulti-Medium Wide Area Communication Network, filed 16 May 2006, thecontent of which is incorporated herein by reference, a neighbor stationcomprising a desktop computer (D2) with access to the Internet (in thisexample) is successful in locating the data (C) from a website or fromsome centralized database, which is routed to the station PDA1. It willbe appreciated that this information need not have been accessed fromthe Internet, but may have been sourced form elsewhere amongst theneighbors or from any central database located on or accessible throughthe wireless network.

The neighbors of the station PDA1 are also aware of the resources of theunit, so it is possible, given the PDA limitations, that theavailability of an unused screen or monitor (S1), with improvedresolution, could be communicated to the station PDA1 and used toimprove the viewers viewing experience. For example, this could be anODMA enabled television in a hotel room, or a computer available tohotel residents, or even a small theater that may be available in ahotel (again, possibly at an additional cost). The various neighborstations could indeed transmit the video feed portion directly to themonitor S1, bypassing the station PDA1, and the sound data feed could befed through some other resource, possibly for use on an independentsystem that may be available.

If licenses are required for access to the encrypted data, the smartcards provided in the ODMA units comprising each station becomerelevant. The “keys” to the encrypted data can be obtained from asuitable source, such as a centralized authority, and passed on to thestations requiring the key to perform a function. Based on thesubscription of the requesting user with the authority, the key could bemade available and the costs charged to an account using the generalmethod disclosed in International patent application no. WO98/35474entitled Secure Packet Radio Network. Therefore, encrypted data could bedistributed to the various stations so all that the requesting unitrequires is the key. Additional security is afforded to data providersas the full data stream is stored and routed through in multiplelocations, so in this manner unauthorized access to the data is moredifficult to achieve.

An important feature that arises from the described ODMA resourcesharing and distributing process is a “neighborhood watch” mechanismthat is enabled by virtue of the ODMA slow probing process. Each“neighborhood” or group of neighbors generated by the stationsaccumulates and retains a substantial collective and distributedknowledge. This knowledge can be accessed and assessed if necessary,especially where unusual or unwanted activities occur. In certaincircumstances, these activities may be policed or monitored by thenetwork and if necessary other stations can be alerted.

For example, if a station notices that certain content is being movedthrough a neighbor station without a security decryption key, or if thekeys were not functional for some reason, the station could take somepredetermined action, such as stopping the transmission and/or reportingthe activity to an authority. Alternatively, as a security measure, astation could report back to an authority every time (or occasionally)that a neighbor, or the station itself, has transmitted certain data,thereby enabling the authority to confirm that the receiver has notcircumvented the need for the key.

It should be recognized that the distribution of resources, however,does not mean that the resources with the greatest functionality areover utilized, as all the components of the available resources aretaken into account. In an airplane, for example, one user may have alaptop computer with a certain movie available on its hard drive or inmemory. Other units could enquire about available movies amongst theneighbors and be advised of the ready accessibility of this particularmovie. If the laptop then had to spoon-feed the information to all therequesting stations it would very quickly run out of battery power. Soportions of the data could be distributed around to other stations (forexample, memory resources may be available on PDAs, other laptops, gameconsoles etc) so that all of these stations can subsequently feed theinformation to the requesting station(s). In this way, the batteryresources of the laptop are not over utilized by virtue of thedistribution.

In order to prevent undue reliance on certain specific neighboringstations, it is preferable to have data distributed to a greater extentthan is strictly necessary. This built-in redundancy, or duplication, isespecially relevant in the immediate neighborhood of the requestingstation and in respect of the timing of data required to be transmittedby neighboring stations immediately following a request for data.Consequently, redundancy is directly proportional to, or at least is afunction of, the proximity in space and time of the stations and data onwhich the requesting station is most reliant.

Redundancy and duplication are also of relevance given the mobile andessentially randomized nature of the dynamic network in a wirelessenvironment. Not only might neighbors that are about to transmitinformation be switched off, lose power, lose connectivity or fail insome other manner, but they may also be moving around relative to oneanother. This may mean that new neighbors may be more efficiently andopportunistically suited to providing the information than was the caseoriginally when the request was made. Having choices available to sourcethe data means the data source may be chosen opportunistically from theknown sources and on a packet by packet basis depending on the networkconnectivity conditions prevailing at the exact moment of transmission,as well as intelligent preferences being determined based on thecumulative “costs” associated with the location of the data.

Distributing the requested information, or part(s) thereof, toadditional stations ensures that the network functions as optimally aspossible. Having the information available at more than one locationprovides alternative transmission opportunities so that fluctuations inimmediate connectivity are less relevant. The amount of redundancyrequired increases nearer to the actively transmitting station, but theamount of data concerned can be smaller as only the portions of dataneeding to be fed next or soon are relevant and potentially critical ifconnectivity is compromised. If the bulk of information is far awaythere will still be many routes to gain access to the resource so thisis less problematic.

However, there is additional functionality in the network structure thatenables intelligent choices to be made in allocating redundancy. In theordinary course, stations have knowledge of the capabilities of theirown neighbors and of their neighbors' neighbors, etc. Consequently,intelligent decisions can be made with reference to this information,such as memory/storage, processing power, connectivity quality, etc.Moreover, as is described in International patent application no.PCT/IB2006/002516 entitled Position Determination of Mobile Stations ina Wireless Network, filed 13 Sep. 2006, the content of which isincorporated herein by reference, it may be possible to determine thedirection and speed of travel of the unit requiring the information. Inaddition, if there is information relating to the actual geographictopography of a region, it will be possible to make certain intelligentassumptions about the likely choices that will be made by the requestingstation in the future. Of course, it is also possible that the requestorwill itself communicate its intended route to assist this process andimprove the service quality.

To illustrate the concept, passengers watching a movie in a vehicletraveling on a road may require additional data to be made available.Given that the vehicle's future position can be predicted from the knownposition, speed and direction of travel, and given that the vehicle islikely to remain on the road, the subsequent packets of data requiredmight be gathered and transmitted to stations known to have goodconnectivity in regions positioned ahead or alongside the likelyphysical, geographic routing of the requesting station, in anticipationof the future needs of the station. When required, the stations withredundancy that have been identified will be capable of transmitting theinformation to the destination station through optimal ODMA routing.

This concept is illustrated in FIG. 2, in which a vehicle X is travelingthrough a town as depicted in FIG. 2( a). In FIG. 2( b), a passenger inthe vehicle is shown to be using a mobile station comprising a PDAdevice. Content is sourced through the resources in the station's“cloud” of neighbors (access to the specific neighbors and distributedresource functionality is not represented in the drawings of FIG. 2).Data is provided opportunistically by the best neighbor stations inportions, namely portion (a) is received from a laptop computer (L1),portion (c) is received from a PDA (P1, which had itself sourced thedata from one of its neighbors (a smart phone (S1)) and portion (b) isreceived from a desktop computer (D1) having access to the Internet.

The stations S1 and D1 may also have provided for redundancy, asillustrated to L2 and L1 respectively, by sending certain of the data toother neighbor stations in good connectivity or likely to be in goodconnectivity with station X. The neighbor station (D1) is also able tosource anticipated subsequent portions of the data, but the mobilestation X in the vehicle has insufficient buffering resources to acceptall of this data until it is actually required. Consequently, as thestation D1 is aware that it has certain powerful neighboring stationswith adequate resources in the region in which the station X is likelyto travel, the subsequent data portions (d and e) are transmitted fortemporary storage to a suitable neighbor (laptop computer L1).

In FIG. 2( c), the mobile station in the vehicle has moved to a newposition (X′) and the user of the smart phone S1 has also moved on priorto providing all of the content in portion (c). As the vehicle is movingaway, the station S1 transmits the data to a better suited neighborstation (D2), which continues to spoon-feed the remaining data to thestation X in the vehicle. In the meantime the station L1 has possiblylocated a subsequent portion (f), and spoon-feeds the data (d), (e) and(f) when required, and through other stations as necessary.

Dispatching all the information to stations near the requester frees thesource of the data to concentrate on its own next task instead of havingto be involved for the requestor's entire data receiving experience.From FIG. 2, it can be seen that portion (g) is already available at D2,and this is transmitted via S2 which is best placed to spoon-feed whenthe need arises. It should also be clear from FIG. 2 that a changing“cloud” of resources is “dragged along” with the station X as it moves,with the neighbors all assisting in providing the data to the station inan intelligent fashion.

It will also be appreciated that were a new station in the region torequest all or part of the same data, many of the assisting stationsreferred to in the example will already have much of the data availablefor ready distribution. This would be typical with data such as weather,sports, traffic and news download situations, for example, where manyusers are likely to have an interest in and be accessing the sametopical, current events. Consequently, there should be many availablechoices to access the data or parts thereof locally, rendering theaccess to other sources, such as the Internet, increasingly lessnecessary and minimizing usage of network resources.

The nature of the neighbor gathering process may lead to beneficialsolutions that are most relevant to the users requiring the information.For example, if a user travels to a new town, or even a new country, theuser may require information about what is most readily available in thenew place, rather than at the original location. For example, dynamicinformation such as the local news and traffic information in thespecific area may be more of a priority than what is happening at home.It is likely that much of this information will be accessible from theneighbors gathered.

FIG. 3 shows such a situation. In FIG. 3( a) a vehicle at location X istraveling towards a city at Y. En route there are several residentialareas (R1, R2 and R3), and commercial and industrial areas (C1 and F1).There are also numerous other vehicles on the roads and a train (T1). AnODMA station in the vehicle at X will have been gathering neighbors onan ongoing basis. In FIG. 3( b) it can be seen that the vehicle at X hasa “cloud” Z1 of close neighbors around it within a single hop that itdrags along with it as it moves. The cloud is of course simplistic, asin reality propagation characteristics may well mean that certainneighbors may be in good wireless connectivity despite being locatedrelatively far away geographically. In FIG. 3( b), amongst the neighborsare several units located in houses in the residential area R1, invehicles and possibly carried by numerous pedestrians and otherindividuals. It can be seen that at least one of the houses providesaccess to the Internet or to other networks.

FIG. 3( c) simplistically illustrates that the neighbors of theneighbors of vehicle at position X, defining a second cloud Z2, extendthe cloud of resources available considerably. (The drawing ignores thecloud that may be available outside of the area depicted in thedrawing—for example neighbors of X may be further away from the city, aswill be depicted in similar fashion in FIG. 3( d)). The consequence ofthis is that the vehicle at X has readily accessible knowledge of thecommercial and industrial areas (C1 and F1) as well as access toinformation from passengers on the train (T1)—as well as additionalopportunities of access to the Internet etc. If the station at X were torequest information such as directions, availability of fuel for thevehicle, the nature of shopping and restaurants available, etc, there isa strong probability that the station in the vehicle need look nofurther than the information already available within the neighborsalready gathered.

Additionally, if the vehicle at X required information regarding thecity at Y, many of these neighbors would have neighbors with thisinformation. Indeed, all relevant forms of certain information could beloaded automatically, such as the local “yellow pages” informationalresources from which the user would be able to browse. Alternatively,information might only be provided at the request of the user, or whencertain forms of information are accessed (for example, when aparticular restaurant is queried a general guide might also be madeavailable).

If the vehicle at X had a predetermined user profile, the neighborswould be aware of the information that may be of special relevance tothe vehicle user. For example, the profile may state that thedestination is the city at Y, or that fuel is low, in which case theseforms of information may be prioritized to the vehicle at X. If theprofile included information that the user enjoyed golf, fine food andthe outdoors, for example, information could be offered relating toaccommodation offerings in the residential area R3 (close to the cityand having golfing facilities) which additionally provides easy accessto restaurants in the city. In this manner, more relevant informationcould be transmitted to the user and indeed certain information may bepetitioned to the user. There may be a particularly well known golfclub, golf shop or golf factory on the way which may be of interest tothe user, and the user could be prompted, to inform the user of theavailability of this form of information. The profile could also specifywhether such petitions are unwelcome or are to be blocked.

If desired, the station might be given, or might request, additionalinformation that might assist in the decision. For example, real-timepictures or video feeds could be provided of the golf course or of arestaurant in the area, or of particular routes available, so that theuser can assess whether they like the choices presented and whether theyare crowded etc.

Moreover, if the user in the vehicle at X was busy requestinginformation, the other stations could recognize what the user isattempting to do and could suggest alternative resources that may beavailable. For example, enhanced processing power or larger screensmight be available that would improve the quality of the experience orhasten the process.

As the vehicle progresses closer to the city, the needs of the user maychange as well as the information and resources available. FIG. 3( d)shows the expanded neighbor gathering clouds ahead (Z3) and behind thevehicle as it moves toward the city. Although there will be many moreaccess points available to the Internet as well as increased routingopportunities, the quantity and quality of information accessible closeby will multiply as the density of units increases.

For example, in a traffic blockage situation near the residential areaR3, there will be a very high density of user stations in the specificregion of the traffic jam and by virtue of the closely packedresidences. Moreover, it is probable that most of these stations wouldappreciate and request access to very similar information—the nature andcause of the blockage. If some of the units have camera functionality,fixed or video images might be distributed and available to the networkfor access, thereby providing improved levels of quality information toother users. If users in vehicles have an enhanced understanding of theproblem ahead, and if this information is shared, collectively thevehicle drivers might be able to make choices that would alleviate theproblem. Given that this information is so relevant to so many stations,it is very likely that the information will be available to a givenstation within very few, short hops—which minimizes the activity of thenetwork as a whole and reduces contributed interference.

Furthermore, given the ability of the ODMA network to locate thephysical position of stations, including their speed and direction oftravel, relevant specific information about such problems oralternatives could be communicated in advance. While the information maybe irrelevant or highly relevant, the point is that the more informationthat is available, the more opportunities that are created to addressthe situation efficiently.

As briefly stated above, the other benefits that are provided in such atraffic jam situation are the additional resources available at very lowtransmission “cost” in terms of signal strength and data throughput. Forexample, passengers might be able to access video in the form of moviesor news, or download games and the like from neighbors situated in theimmediate or near vicinity. The manner in which this information isacquired or constrained, such as the pricing implications of gainingaccess or certain regional restrictions, may be controlled and managedby an authentication and directory server. However, the efficienciesafforded through the network are optimized by taking availableinformation from that which is already distributed amongst thoseneighbors close by and with good connectivity.

It should also be remembered that access to information throughcentralized databases is not prohibited as such, and will obviously bemade use of and accessed when needed. However, the importantdistinguishing feature is that at least some of the information may wellbe more efficiently accessed from within the network itself. If a userdesires access to information or data that is less accessible, this cancertainly be located through more conventional databases in centralizedlocations or at specific Internet addresses. For example, theinformation may be inaccessible wirelessly amongst the users in theconnectivity region, but it may be possible to go over wire as isdescribed in U.S. patent application No. 60/681,927 entitledMulti-Medium Wide Area Communication Network (referenced above).However, the need to obtain access to these other sources could requirethat an additional financial or other cost is associated with theacquisition of the information as this becomes a resource managementconsideration.

Although the applications disclosed above relate primarily to videostreaming, any data may be accessed in this manner and retrieved by arequesting station. For example, an alternative embodiment may includeaccess to the text and content of books and other written material.Desktop search engines presently available are capable of very quicklydetermining what is accessible at each user station, and there is noreason why such information cannot be shared upon request. This obviatesthe need to search for content at specific websites as the informationis likely to be available on the units of the network users themselves.

Consequently, the ability to obtain fixed information and data mostefficiently is maximized in the ODMA network, as well as the potentialfor receiving relevant local information and in attracting relevantlocation based services. The world itself is opportunistic and dynamic,where access to information and the information itself that is availablechanges dynamically, with the implication that the relevance of theinformation changes as users move and as time passes. The presentinvention optimizes the ability and capacity of users to take advantageof the opportunities as and when they are made available.

If a record of the nature of any information or data (or other resource)requested and accessed is maintained, even if only for a cycled butlimited duration, this information relating to the request could bestored centrally at an authentication and distribution server. Thisfacility would enable other stations to enquire from the centralfacility where best to get initial information about the potentialavailability of certain information and where data might be located.Providing an indication of where best to start looking could lead to theinvestigation being initiated as efficiently as possible and thisassistance can ensure that information is pushed and pulledappropriately. The authentication servers will also authenticate thestations utilized in the process to ensure that sufficient security isin place to prevent unauthorized access to user facilities.

It should be appreciated that high or extreme levels of functionalityand processing power are not always required. For example, if theinformation requested is required in real time (the user is watching amovie, or reading a book), there is (in computer processing terms) anenormous amount of time available to seek the information that willsubsequently be required by the requesting station.

This means that many more stations on the network provide opportunitiesfor efficient access to this type of information without significantlyimpacting the aggregate network resources. The import of this is thatthe units with greater functionality and resources are freed up toassist with the data retrieval of requests of users requiring higherresource levels and functionality. Indeed, in most instances, the needfor search engines utilizing content provided at Internet based websitesbecomes less important, as many client station units on the network maywell have much of this information in memory or cache.

From the above, it should become apparent that, aside from the actualdata requested, the key functional resources that are utilizable in themethodology of the invention process are connectivity, memory/storage,computational processing power, display capability, location, andrequest and resource and maintenance (a record of what is beingundertaken by neighboring stations and what is being requested orrequired, etc). These resources are potentially opportunisticallyavailable to the neighborhoods and consequently information relating tothese resources can be gathered and maintained by the stations on anongoing basis.

Recognition of this feature is especially significant, and liberatesusers by enabling units having little capacity or functionality to be ofconsiderable benefit to the user accessing information. In principle,there is nothing preventing access to a user's home computer (or anyother station or any other source of information) using little more thana very simple station with limited resources and functionality. Forexample, the user could carry a key ring type of unit, containing littlemore that an ODMA smart card. The unit may have negligible memory andprocessing power, and indeed limited or no display facility at all, butby gathering information about the ODMA neighborhood, suitable neighborscould provide all of these resources. Accordingly, an unused ODMAstation screen may be available in a taxi or in an electronics store orin an office; and information could be processed and fed to theidentified screen from suitable neighbors as the data is accessed fromthe home computer or other stations on the network.

Additionally, a subscriber's own equipment may be used efficiently inorder to provide the greatest flexibility. For example, a user mightleave her laptop computer in her vehicle when dining at a restaurant,but could use her PDA to look for suitable accommodation, or initiateand have access to some more sophisticated functionality remotely. Anyrelevant information could be transmitted by the network (or may havealready been transmitted) to the laptop, as it has enhanced memory andprocessing functionality, and this could then be accessed by the PDA.Alternatively, the reverse could be true, the user using her camera onthe PDA to take pictures and automatically storing these on the laptopor to other computers, such as those of friends, business colleagues,etc. This not only prevents loss of the information in the event thatthe camera is lost or damaged, but provides access to greater memoryresources and thereby enables more pictures to be taken at a higherresolution. This ongoing backup process to a remote memory/storagedatabase, or even if it is merely distributed around the network,provides an archiving capability that is in itself useful in certainsituations.

For example, if a surveillance camera linked to a network station wasdeliberately destroyed by a wrongdoer, who was concerned that an eventhad been filmed, the information should already have been distributedelsewhere. Buffers of memory available around the neighbor stations canbe prioritized to enable the lost memory in the damaged camera to berestored from the network. By way of illustration, a surveillance cameramay have limited buffer capacity. However, if an alarm or other triggeris activated the pictures captured by particular cameras around theincident may be considered more relevant than others. Consequently, thebuffering needs of other cameras or other neighbor units may besuppressed in favor of the camera(s) that has priority so that the mostimportant information is recorded and not potentially lost. In addition,the event could trigger other cameras, monitoring and recording devicesand other resources in the area to distribute their buffered informationbefore and after the event so that it can not be lost. Certain devicescould be instructed to focus on the event (the cameras turn, forexample, towards the event, or to regions near, in front of or behindthe event, to provide additional information of the circumstances beforeand after the incident).

As another example, a police car in hot pursuit of a vehicle may requireimages of enhanced resolution that exceed the memory storagecapabilities in the vehicle. Therefore, this information will be dumpedinto other available resources, which supplement the local data storageavailable, and ensures that the data is not lost in the event that thepolice vehicle is destroyed in an ensuing accident during the pursuit.The police cars could trigger other cameras and monitoring/recordingdevices to be activated based on information or position (anticipatinglocations ahead of the chase and behind or around the fleeing vehicle,so that the pursuing police car can anticipate blockages and potentialareas to trap or slow the fugitive).

The requests for stations to assist can be determined according to theperceived needs, based on defined criteria. If a monitoring or recordingdevice or camera detects that a vehicle has stopped on a main road, forexample, this could be reported and monitored as it may indicate anupstream or downstream problem at an early stage. At this point, policeor other authorities could even contact subscriber stations and requestthat the user assist in displaying images etc.

Certain surveillance equipment can be provided for many specificreasons, and could be deployed on roads, high security sites (banks forexample) or high risk areas (landmarks, key sites etc). The reasons andtrigger devices may include applications for controlling dangerous orhigh impact circumstances such as for crime and terrorism control,natural disasters (sea levels changes, floods, fires, earth movementsetc), as well as the more mundane aspects of traffic control and peoplemovement etc. The determination of necessary responses, the sharing ofrelevant information, the provision, integration, management andmonitoring of emergency services, or other suitable personnel, can begreatly assisted in this manner and also utilized in any hierarchicalcontrol.

Obviously, access to the data can be protected through encryption andstation authentication techniques controlled through smartcards or othersuitable network management devices. However, it should be appreciatedthat the available memory and processing power that is available at anygiven moment amongst neighbors to a certain level of hops issurprisingly large and should not be underestimated. Aside from the moreobvious computer and database server resources available, many modernelectronic devices that are available commercially provide substantialresources that can be utilized efficiently.

For example, even unsophisticated digital cameras or games presentlyhave memory cards providing well in excess of 1 Gigabyte of memory.Assuming that any mainstream movie requires approximately 1 GB of memory(at reduced resolution suitable for portable devices), if half of thepopulation of Manhattan alone (1.5 million people) had such a digitalcamera, there could theoretically be sufficient memory to store 750,000full length movies. This is probably more than the number of filmsactually available and certainly well in excess of the choices availablethrough a regular rental facility or other centralized source. Theexample serves to illustrate that facilities are available in a networkthat are substantial in aggregate, even without accounting for any othermainstream storage available on other traditional devices, such aspersonal computers and servers, etc, which are clearly considerably moreextensive.

It must be appreciated that the redistribution and allocation ofresources amongst the network stations is ultimately aimed at optimizingopportunities that are available. The network is able to detect thedynamic shifting in the resources available, as well as the space andtime characteristics, and exploit the opportunities to the maximumadvantage available at any given moment. To achieve this objective,users can be compensated with incentives, such as reward points ormoney, in order to encourage them to make their units available to thenetwork when not required by the user as such.

Moreover, the invention further contemplates that there is also thepossibility that certain ODMA units will advertise their suitability asa resource for certain purposes in exchange for certain benefits fromthe network. Units may deliberately provide memory storage facilitiesfor buffering, or processor capacity for calculations, etc. Users may bedirected to these stations by virtue of their profile and position.Certain users could benefit from the intentional provision of access toresources, by parking a car having a station with considerable memory,processing power and large antennas in a suitable location, for example.Such stations would provide all the connectivity, computer resources anddata throughputs required, and receive compensation for doing so.

In addition, stations requesting information might advertise the natureof certain data that is important at some centralized location, such asat the authentication and distribution server. Other stations that checkthis server will become aware of the need for this information and cansubsequently then feed the information through should they subsequentlylocate it. Alternatively, a station might petition other stations forthe right to use the resources, which could be provided at a price. Thebidding process could be undertaken by the station, or by theauthentication server of the network on the user station's behalf.

The general concept is that the overall resources of the entire networkare shared as efficiently as possible, utilizing the most suitableresources available and leading to the greatest possible saving of powerrequired in transmissions; which in turn lengthens battery lives, usesless power in general and is ultimately beneficial to the environment(using less natural resources and requiring a reduced need of disposalof toxic substances such as those used in batteries).

Ultimately, at least in theory, there will eventually be little or noneed for centralized servers—as all information available will bedistributed across the network units. If stations are available to 10hops, there will be little need for excessive duplication, as some unitsmay be very reliable and require less redundancy. However, where moredistant communications are required then by definition these becomeincreasingly unreliable, so more opportunities must be created throughdistribution of resources to remain efficient. In such circumstances,for example, a message could be split up deliberately from the outset,so that it is sent through a number of different routes, or the messagecould be deliberately duplicated, with a facility to communicate to thestations on the other transmission when the pieces of the message havebeen received at the destination. The impact of this is to essentiallyutilize independent processing available on the network and avoiddropped or repeated messages.

The ODMA network also provides a convenient and highly efficient meansof disseminating large amounts of information. Conventionalcommunication systems would transmit the same message to all the usersof the network as a complete message from the originating station toeach of the destination—in other words using all the resources requiredto transmit the message between the origin and destination for everystation. The ODMA network allows the information to be sent out on ashared resource basis, with the one message broken into many smallerpieces at the originating station and distributed into the network.Ultimately all the neighbors will be able to determine where all thepieces can be found and these can be shared around.

For example, a public release of a new film could be made available topaying subscribers by fragmenting the film into smaller portions,shuffling out the pieces so that it may be disseminated to users in a“controlled flood.” Each packet can be sent on to each station's fiveclose neighbors, who may distribute it to their five close neighbors,etc. This form of distribution will be simpler and more efficient thantransmitting the message many times as a single copy and is a veryeffective way of sending information to many users. Of course, if it isanticipated that many users are likely to request that they obtainaccess to the same data (in other words the data is popular and accessedoften) then the data portions can be maintained over a longer period andcan be held in more places (increased redundancy).

In essence, distilled at the heart of the invention, is the concept thatneighbors are gathered at each station and in so doing each station isprovided with collaborative assistance, monitoring and support from theneighbors. All the stations that are being “dragged around” as “cloudsof resources” are all available to look after each other, including faroff neighbors that may be collected over other media such as theInternet.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a network comprisinga plurality of stations each able to transmit and receive data so thatthe network can transmit data directly, or indirectly via one or moreintermediate stations, between a requesting station and potentialresource providing stations, the method comprising: monitoring, at eachstation, the activity and/or resources of other stations on the networkto establish the availability of resources at the other stations;transmitting, from a requesting station requiring a specified resource,slow “neighbour gathering” probe signals at regular intervals(determined by a Slow Probe Timer) to find other stations varying theprobe power until a certain predetermined number of stations indicatethey are able to detect the probes if a station never acquires therequired number of neighbors it will remain at the lowest data rate andmaximum transmit power resource request probe signals identifying thespecified resource; further transmitting fast probe signals (or gradientgathering probe signals) to develop information on how to reach thatstation if a station has a message (or other data) to transmit to astation that is not one of its neighbors until the destination stationhears the fast probes of its neighbors; determining, at each stationreceiving the resource request probe signals, the availability at saidstation of the specified resource or a portion thereof and hence whethersaid station is a potential resource providing station; transmitting,from a potential resource providing station having the specifiedresource or a portion thereof, response data directly, or indirectly viaone or more intermediate stations, to the requesting station indicatingthe availability of the specified resource or portion thereof to therequesting station; and receiving, at the requesting station, access tothe specified resource or portion thereof from at least one resourceproviding station selected from one or more potential resource providingstations.
 2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the specifiedresource is one or more of data, connectivity within the network or toan external network or device, memory/storage, data processingcapability, display capability, and data relating to the maintenance ofinformation on the location of stations, the history of resourcerequests and fulfillment of such requests, and the availability ofresources.
 3. The method according to claim 2 wherein said data is oneor more of video, audio, text, image or other data.
 4. The methodaccording to claim 1 wherein stations in the network receive theresource request probe signals directly from the requesting station. 5.The method according to claim 1 wherein stations in the network receivethe resource request probe signals indirectly via one or moreintermediate stations.
 6. The method according to claim 5 wherein eachstation receiving the resource request probe signals monitors the numberof transmission hops via intermediate stations between the requestingstation and itself and responds only to probe signals received via fewerthan a predetermined number of intermediate stations or transmissionhops, or if the cumulative cost of transmission to the requestingstation is less than a predetermined value.
 7. The method according toclaim 5 wherein, where the resource request probe signals and responsedata are transmitted via one or more intermediate stations, eachtransmission is made opportunistically based on one or more criteria. 8.The method according to claim 7 wherein, the stations of the networkmonitor the cumulative power required to reach another station, therebydefining a cost gradient to the other stations, with stations using thecost gradient in the selection criteria used to determine an optimalroute through the network between a resource providing station and arequesting station.
 9. The A method according to claim 7 wherein thecriteria include the cost of each hop between stations, or thecumulative cost of message transmission between stations havingconnectivity with one another, directly or via intermediate stations.10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the specified resource isobtained from one or more resource providing stations, which resourceproviding stations are selected according to one or more criteria,including the extent of the specified resource available at the resourceproviding station, the data processing capacity of the resourceproviding station, the data storage capacity of the resource providingstation, the distance or number of hops via intermediate stationsbetween the resource providing station and the requesting station, thequality of communication between immediate stations and/or thecumulative connectivity cost between the resource providing station andthe requesting station, availability of power at the resource providingstation and/or intermediate stations, the existence of other demands onthe resource providing station, and the amount of time available withinwhich the specified resource can be supplied timeously to the requestingstation.
 11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the choice ofresource providing station made opportunistically at the moment ofdistribution of the specified resource.
 12. The method according toclaim 1 wherein plurality of stations cooperate actively in making thespecified resource available to the requesting station.
 13. The methodaccording to claim 1 wherein the specified resource or portion thereofis transferred between one or more resource providing stations and oneor more intermediate stations, with the intermediate stations takingover the role of the initial resource providing stations, as therequesting station moves relative to the other stations.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 13 wherein the source or intermediate stationspredict the route of a requesting station that is moving and steer thespecified resource to further intermediate stations expected to belocated opportunely to make the resource available to the requestingstation.
 15. The method according to claim 14 wherein multiple sourcesof the specified resource are utilized and/or buffered for piecemealdistribution to the resource providing station.
 16. The method accordingto claim 13 wherein the specified resource is actively distributed fromone or more resource providing stations to further stations capable ofacting as intermediate or resource providing stations, to provideredundancy in the event of a loss or reduced quality of connectivitybetween stations, or a loss or reduction of quality of resources orfunctionality at stations, or other events likely to limit availabilityof the specified resource to the requesting station.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 12 wherein, where several requesting stations requestsubstantially the same data from one or more potential resourceproviding stations at substantially the same time, a resource providingstation transmits the data to one or more of the requesting stations,together with an additional request that said one or more requestingstations and/or intermediate stations forward the data to otherrequesting stations that have good connectivity with the initialrequesting station and/or intermediate stations, thereby enabling saidother requesting stations to source data from stations that aresubstantially in the same locale.
 18. The method according to claim 1wherein stations in the network advertise their availability aspotential resource providing stations to other stations in the network,and transmit probe signals to other stations including data indicatingthe nature and extent of the resources available.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 18 wherein stations receiving such probe signals frompotential resource providing stations determine the desirability of theadvertised resources based on the probe signals and data receivedtherefrom, and request part or all of the resource available.
 20. Themethod according to claim 1 wherein profile and location information aremaintained at neighbor stations indicating potential interest in atleast a portion of the resources being advertised to potentialrequesting stations.
 21. The method according to claim 1 whereinstations in the network monitor network transmissions for irregularitiesindicating undesirable activity, and transmit notice of such activity toother stations and/or to a central authority.
 22. The method accordingto claim 1 including transmitting a plurality of different data blocksto a plurality of stations from a resource providing station, the datablocks together comprising a complete data set, and a requesting stationrequiring the complete data set obtaining the data blocks from one ormore resource providing stations.
 23. The method according to claim 1wherein the requesting station initially selects a resource providingstation able to supply a relatively poor quality resource, andsubsequently selects one or more alternative resource providing stationsable to continue supplying the resource at a higher quality level. 24.The method according to claim 1 including maintaining a record ofresources requested and/or accessed at a central server, requestingstations being able to access the record to obtain initial informationabout the availability and/or location of such resources.
 25. The methodaccording to claim 1 to wherein stations in the network monitortransmissions of other stations to detect transmissions requiring adecryption key or having predetermined content, a station detecting sucha transmission declining to transmit said transmission onward ornotifying a central authority if it fails to meet one or morepredetermined criteria.
 26. The method according to claim 1 wherein atleast one station in the network has a monitoring or surveillancefunction, said at least one station generating, in response to an alarmcondition, a request to other stations to prioritize the capture,transmission and/or storage of data relating to an event associated withthe alarm condition.
 27. The method according to claim 26 wherein theother stations respond to the request by storing data relating to thealarm condition, including data captured before and/or after theoccurrence of the alarm condition.
 28. A communication networkcomprising a plurality of stations each able to transmit and receivedata so that the network can transmit data directly, or indirectly viaone or more intermediate stations, between a requesting station andpotential resource providing stations, each station being arranged to:monitor the activity of other stations on the network to establish theavailability of intermediate stations for onward transmission of databetween the requesting station and the potential resource providingstations; transmit from a requesting station requiring a specifiedresource, slow “neighbour gathering” probe signals at regular intervals(determined by a Slow Probe Timer) to find other stations varying theprobe power until a certain predetermined number of stations indicatethey are able to detect the probes if a station never acquires therequired number it will remain at the lowest data rate and maximumtransmit power resource request probe signals identifying the specifiedresource; further transmit fast probe signals (or gradient gatheringprobe signals) to develop information on how to reach that station if astation has a message (or other data) to transmit to a station that isnot one of its neighbors until the destination station hears the fastprobes of its neighbors; determine, when acting as a station receivingthe resource request probe signals, the availability at said station ofthe specified resource or a portion thereof and hence whether saidstation is a potential resource providing station; transmit, whendetermined to be a potential resource providing station having thespecified resource or a portion thereof, response data directly, orindirectly via one or more intermediate stations, to the requestingstation indicating the availability of the specified resource or portionthereof to the requesting station; and receive, when acting as therequesting station, access to the specified resource or portion thereoffrom at least one resource providing station selected from one or morepotential resource providing stations.